The children rolled upon the ground, laughed, and howled, while maman, and bonne maman from the window of her chair, scattered handfuls of centimes, sous, and liards, an old coin of the period that no longer exists.

"These women, who we call maman, force us on the streets for days without pause, also when we have our period, also when we are pregnant ... and a few days after childbirth we are pushed on the street again, or the maman would steal babies from us," Isoke Aikpitanyi told IPS.

It required all my mother's skill to persuade them to allow her to dress their hair for them on the occasion of an evening party at Tante Rose's, to which, as usual, they were going, as "maman" had gone, wearing black-lace caps.